When I found out that Christina Lauren was writing a 'sequel' to The Soulmate Equation, I was thrilled. It was the second Christina Lauren book I read and I loved it so much so I knew I was going to love 'The True Love Experiment'.
Both books contain such beautiful stories with lots of heart, but also a lot of fluff to make them enjoyable reads. It's so unique, so different and almost so realistic that it's hard to wrap your mind around the fact that it's not.
We'll get into the story but I wanted to set the stage...
People have been saying that you don't have to read the first book to understand the second but I disagree. If you want to read The True Love Experiment you really should read The Soulmate Equation. It will be a much more interesting book if you have all the background information.
Now, let's get into The True Love Experiment....
Publisher's Summary
Felicity “Fizzy” Chen is lost. Sure, she’s got an incredible career as a beloved romance novelist with a slew of bestsellers under her belt, but when she’s asked to give a commencement address, it hits her: she hasn’t been practicing what she’s preached.
Fizzy hasn’t ever really been in love. Lust? Definitely. But that swoon-worthy, can’t-stop-thinking-about-him, all-encompassing feeling? Nope. Nothing. What happens when the optimism she’s spent her career encouraging in readers starts to feel like a lie?
Connor Prince, documentary filmmaker and single father, loves his work in large part because it allows him to live near his daughter. But when his profit-minded boss orders him to create a reality TV show, putting his job on the line, Connor is out of his element. Desperate to find his romantic lead, a chance run-in with an exasperated Fizzy offers Connor the perfect solution. What if he could show the queen of romance herself falling head-over-heels for all the world to see? Fizzy gives him a hard pass—unless he agrees to her list of demands. When he says yes, and production on The True Love Experiment begins, Connor wonders if that perfect match will ever be in the cue cards for him, too.
My Thoughts
I love this book SO MUCH. I liked it better than The Soulmate Equation; it felt the same but different in so many ways. Fizzy was so interesting and it makes sense that she got her own spinoff - she was electric in the first book and definitely a more vibrant personality than Jess (which is very intentional. I find the 'sidekicks' usually are more interesting), so as a main character she was going to shine.
Connor was an incredible love interest and I loved him so much. I liked him better than River because it didn't feel like he was trying so hard to resist his attraction to Fizzy. He was written really well, and I thought there was a lot of great character traits that jumped off the page.
The premises of the book was genius; I love the dating app technology that we were introduced to in the first book but having that combined with a dating show, with a romance author who lost her mojo? It's genius! It feels like an ad libs page in the best way possible.
I really just wish the DNA dating app and the show were real; it was so cute to have all the contestants be different romance tropes. I wish I could watch this play out in real life!
Fizzy and Connor were hot and heavy and it was a slow burn that I was desperate for. It was joyous to read the two of them; they felt like old friends who I was jumping back into bed with. The entire story just leaps into reality and it doesn't even feel like you're reading fiction.
Christina Lauren is not your typical romance writer; their words always seem to jump into your heart and life, and leave you a little different. There are definitely normal romance novel tropes, along with some hot and steam scenes, but at it's core it's about love and learning more about yourself.
The entire DNA series is a bundle of joy and if you want something light, something sweet, something hot, and something to take you out of your reading slump, I cannot recommend The True Love Experiment enough!
xoxo
B
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